Computer problems leave United Airlines travelers stranded

Computer problems interrupt United Airlines flights

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published 5:30 am, Friday, June 17, 2011

CHICAGO — Thousands of flyers were stranded Friday night in airports across the country when United Airlines computers crashed, interrupting departures and reservations and disrupting the airline's website. The airline confirmed the problem on Twitter. United spokesman Charles Hobart said the computer problems started at about 7:15 p.m. He did not elaborate on the nature of the problem.

But the problems aren't causing major problems at Houston’s Bush airport, Airport System officials said.

As a result of the outage, long lines of passengers formed at check-in counters at Chicago's O'Hare International and Denver International airports, two of United's largest hubs. The plans of landscape designer
Stephanie Hochman
, of Denver, to fly to Wichita, Kan., to visit her family were stymied by the outage. "I was rushing, because I was running a little late," she said. "I kept checking computers to see if the (8:30 p.m.) flight was still on time. I thought it was all good, until I got to the airport and saw the people standing around at the checkout counter." Hochman, 26, said United workers were telling customers the computers were down and they were trying to get things going. "As of right now, I'm giving them another hour," she said. "After that, I'm going home and will give them a call tomorrow." Hobart said the airline is apologizing to travelers affected and is seeking to resume operations as quickly as possible. United is the second airline to have its operations disrupted by computer problems this month. Last week, a power outage grounded or delayed US Airways flights nationwide. Passengers couldn't make reservations, check in online, change their flights or check flight status.